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Members of the Holyoke Police Department, from left, Ryan Tabb, Shaun Kelley, Keith Williams, Baron Maruca, Ed Moskal and Matt Moriarty, gather at JP's Restaurant and Sports Bar for the judging of mustaches as a part of a "Movember Tribute" as a fund-raiser for Special Olympics.
(Dave Roback, The Republican)

“I can’t wait to get rid of this thing,” officer Ryan Tabb said of the pencil-thin, feint whisper of a mustache that appears over his upper lip.

“Believe it or not, it’s been a month,” he said.

“I can’t wait to get this thing off my face,” said officer Sean Shattuck of his Fu Manchu-style mustache that extends past the corners of his mouth in two parallel lines that go past his jaw line.

“I hate it. It won’t be there in the morning,” he said. “But it’s for a good cause.”

Tabb, Shattuck and 43 other officers within the department took part in a month-long campaign to see who could grow the most impressive mustache as part of a fund-raising effort to aid Special Olympics.

“We’ll be happy when the month is over so we can shave,” said Lt. Matthew F. Moriarity. “For a while I was like the kid in chemistry class going ‘look, I’m growing a mustache.’

The contest was in line with the national “Movember” mustache-growing campaign where men put away their razors for the entire month of November as a way to raise money for various causes.

With December hours away, the Holyoke police officers gathered at J.P’s Restaurant Friday night to celebrate the end of the campaign and to award prizes. Brendan Boyle won the best mustache title, Richard Connor won the worst, and Edward Sustache took home the coveted third prize, known as "the Ron Jeremy" for growing the best mustache befitting a 1980s porn star.

Examples of different mustache styles from a printed handout at Friday night's Holyoke Police mustache contest.courtesy of Holyoke police

Officers participating pony up $20 to enter, and Moriarty said they thought the effort would raise $500.

Instead they collected close to $1,500, he said.

When word of the contest spread, donations starting coming in from all corners.
First, some female members of the department, who obviously are handicapped when it comes to a mustache-growing contest, began donating money. Then came members of the City Council and city departments, Moriarty said.

And when the contest got some publicity in the local press, contributions started coming in from the general public, he said.

“Citizens were just coming in off the street to donate,” Moriarty said. “The community was very receptive. There were donations of $20 to $100. It was incredible.”